Workplace safety bill advances in Assembly

CARSON CITY -- Nevada lawmakers, running out of time in the 2009 session which ends Monday, advanced numerous bills on Wednesday, including one to reduce on-the-job deaths and injuries by improving workplace safety training for new employees.

Senate Commerce and Labor Committee members voted for Assembly Bill 148, which stems from the deaths of 12 workers at Strip construction sites over an 18-month period.

The bill would require 10 hours of safety training for employees and 30 hours of safety training for supervisors. Companies would have to drop workers who don't get the training in a timely manner.

The Assembly Ways and Means Committee voted for a measure that would require the Department of Corrections and the Division of Parole and Probation to adopt policies that set maximum caseloads for their officers.

Assembly Bill 385 would require that parole and probation officers have a maximum of 70 cases for low-risk offenders. The bill also would require periodic reports to legislators about staffing ratios.

Ways and Means also approved Senate Bill 47, which would authorize state prison officials to conduct random drug and alcohol screening tests; and to fire employees in public safety or security jobs who refuse to take the tests.

Assembly Ways and Means also approved Assembly Bill 18, which would require issuance of up to $100 million in general-obligation bonds for environmental improvement projects at Lake Tahoe. The funds would be used for various projects between now and 2020.

Also Wednesday, Senate Commerce and Labor approved Assembly Bill 229, requiring "fire-safe" cigarettes that would self-extinguish if left unattended.

At least 38 states already have approved similar measures, according to the Coalition for Fire-Safe Cigarettes, an advocacy group that is promoting the idea.